domestic energy assessors

April the 26th, 2009 - Issue # 6

In this issue;

- On Business

More from CLG about the changes on the 6th of April
Some changes for DEAlocal are just around the corner too
Are you owned money from any EPC supplier (i.e panels)?

- From the Blog

Would you like to be a reporter?
A cool free tool for DEA's CPD management
New Poll section at DEAlocal

- SEO & Marketing Tips

The SEO blueprint for DEAs is coming soon

- Tell us what you Think

Your feedback matters to us! Talk to us - news [at] dealocal [dot] co [dot] uk
Don't forget to Post Your testimonials or comments in the Blog

- Invite other DEAs friends or colleagues

Show them that you care www.dealocal.co.uk/invite

Happy Reading !

Manuel Kupka
news [at] dealocal [dot] co [dot] uk

..........................................

Dear DEA,

It's been a long time since Issue #5, I apologize for the delay but some things are happening around my life that's turned all up-side-down, you'll see what I mean ... keep reading.

I hope you enjoy reading the features in this DEAlocal eZine issue.

- On Business

More from CLG about the changes coming on the 6th of April

As you probably know by know the 6th of April is the day when some extra changes are added to the HIPs regulations.

CLG has released a few different documents (.pdf) explaining all the changes. Make sure you read & understand these documents.

These are all the official related documents I've found;

• Changes to Home Buying and Selling - Updates to Home Information Pack
• Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) - General version
• Industry briefing note: Changes to Home Information Packs
• Local Authority Property Search Services - Costing and Charging Guidance

Please comment here if you've found something else.

Some changes for DEAlocal are just around the corner too

I don't want to say too much about this just yet, but things are going to be changing quite a bit around DEAlocal.

The main reason is  . . .  that I've decided to leave the UK and go back to Barcelona :-) I still don't have a leaving date but it'll be around the first week of June.

The most obvious implication to that decision (related to DEAlocal) is that I will cease trading as an Independent DEA in Bath and surrounding areas - good news for the competition ;-)

However I won't be giving up DEAlocal, in fact I'm going to revamp it in many ways, to help even more Independent DEAs . I'll let you know about every change that affects you as they are about to happen.

One important opportunity is that I will be looking for some DEAs who'd like to collaborate with DEAlocal on different levels. These will be a compensated jobs in freelancing basis. I mean that I will pay a fee per job (to start with). More on this subject soon.

Are you owned any money from panels?

I think new regulations bring an opportunity to get rid of some of the annoyances in our market place, "Greedy & Rip off Panels"*.

I've published a Blog post with and idea that I believe it'd help achive this. In my opinion if all DEAs (that get unpaid EPCs obviously) do this, all those bad payers who don't pay DEAs on time, will lose all their customers within the first few months of this happening (or will have to pay DEAs on time, which wouldn't be bad either).

Don'tmiss the Blog post Let's take them Down And don't foget to leave you comments

- From the Blog

Would you like to be a reporter?

Can you write? Would you enjoy researching about a our market and get paid for doing so? Would you like to make some extra cash? DEAlocal is looking for a freelancer ghostwriter/reporter.

Please don't discard this option just because you are not a writer, we are NOT looking for professional writers (we couldn't afford them).

What are we looking for?

• Preferable (but not necessarily) a qualified & accredited, DEA who enjoys researching and writing.
• We will expect articles free of misspelling errors and with good grammar ;-)

What we offer?

• We will ask between 2 to 4 articles (500 words ish) a month (most likely once a week).
• We will pay cash (through Paypal) on per article basis, once the article has been approved (by us)

More you may want to know;

• All the articles will be related to the DEA marketplace and stuff that may attract our main prospect customers

Who's this opportunity for:

• Ideally a DEAlocal member who isn't too busy providing EPCs and has some free time
• Someone who enjoys researching and writing (even though has never published anything before).
• Maybe you know a friend or family member who you think may be fit for the job too.

If you'd be interested in this opportunity or have any questions drop me an email at manuel [at] dealocal [dot] co [dot] uk

A cool free tool for DEA's CPD management

As a DEA you are subjected to some Continuous Professional Development requirements. You can find which requirements each accreditation scheme has in the article CPD requirements & Accreditation Schemes for a DEA

The IDEA (Institute of Domestic Energy Assessors) recently launched a useful free service for CPD management at cpdregister.net, they say;

• Diary of forthcoming training courses
• Diary of forthcoming CPD courses
• Diary of forthcoming seminars, conferences, exhibitions and events
• Links to various CLG documents in relation to both HIPs and EPC’s

In my opinion, this is a good tool which will make your CPD management a lot easier, don't let yourself be fooled by the fact that it's free to use.

I highly recommend that you Sign up with CPD Register.

New Poll section at DEAlocal

We've started to post some Polls for members only. We would like to ask all DEAlocal members to spare us a few seconds to vote.

Logged users will see a "Poll block" on the top right corner of every web page at www.dealocal.co.uk. If you have already voted you will see the Poll results instead.

While all DEAlocal members will be able to access the results of the polls, the votes will remain private, so nobody will know who voted what.

You can send your suggestions for future polls to admin [at] dealocal [dot] co [dot] uk, however we would like to limit the theme questions to DEA related business.

So, can you please take a few seconds to find the Poll block on the top right corner of this page and vote? Thanks :-)

- SEO & Marketing Tips

The SEO blueprint for DEAs is coming soon

You probably know that I've been trying to put together a "SEO blueprint for DEAs" for a while, I'm aware that many of you are looking forward to it.

I hope you appreciate that I've been quite busy and haven't been able to give it as much time as I'd like to. The good news is that with the many changes that I'm planing, I will have more time for this sort of stuff and more.

I'll keep you informed.

- Tell us what you Think

We'd love to hear what you think of this issue! Please send your comments, questions, and ideas for upcoming issues to us at: news [at] dealocal [dot] co [dot] uk

Your feedback matters to us!

If You aren't Posting in the Blog

Just in case you don't know yet (or have forgotten), all DEAlocal members are allowed to post in the Blog. Don't miss the chance to make your voice count.

To post your Blog article;

1. Log in from http://www.dealocal.co.uk/user using your username or email and password.
2. Click on "Submit Post" on the left hand side menu "Energy Assessors"
3. Type in a catchy title for your article (you will notice the system calls it Story instead of Blog post).
4. Choose a Category from the drop down menu.
5. Type in your article where it says Body.
6. Click on the button "Preview" to check everything show as intended or "Submit" if you are sure everything is fine. (please check your spelling, grammar mistakes will make you look bad).

That's it, your Blog post it's submitted for moderation and will be published as soon as it's been checked.

And again, feel free to leave your comments below.

- Help Your DEA friends or colleagues

Share DEAlocal directory of independent DEAs with them.

    * Do you like your Business Listing?
    * Have you got any leads or quotes yet?
    * Do you know any DEA that could benefit too?

If You answered "Yes" to any of the above questions, consider Inviting them to join DEAlocal, it’s very easy from www.dealocal.co.uk/invite.  

Only registered DEAlocal members can invite other DEAs, therefore you will need to log-in.

Once loged in, scroll down and follow the easy instruction. You can even keep track of your invitations. Check it out not at www.dealocal.co.uk/invite

All the best

Manuel DEA in Bath